<VV> Radial tire "tales"

[Ron]

Haven't had a blowout for 30 years and use radials on every car except my 
'50 Nash.  My experience with radials is that they last at least twice as 
log as the old bias ply tires, have much more traction on ice and snow and 
handle much better everywhere.
RonH

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <kenpepke at juno.com>
To: <Sethracer at aol.com>
Cc: <virtualvairs at corvair.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 23, 2008 4:41 AM
Subject: Re: <VV> Radial tire "tales"


> Ken said ...
> Even today most radial tires are replace due to failure rather than worn 
> out tread.
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The best handling EM I have ever driven was equipped with a set of 
> 'polyglass' retreads that I took off a wrecked car in the junk yard!  That 
> car would generate such high lateral acceleration that I worried about it 
> 'tripping' over its own traction.
>
> I would suggest looking closer.  Lots of worn out & dead radials yes but, 
> most have some usable tread life ... Because they were able to hold air 
> pressure, unless punctured, people could and did run bias tires into the 
> cords on a regular basis.  Radials most certainly do 'blow out' but not 
> all that often.  They do become so lumpy, bumpy and wiggly that they must 
> be replaced and usually before the tread is gone or even before the wear 
> markers are showing.  There is no question that a radial has a lower 
> rolling resistance and as a result runs cooler ... so cool in fact, that 
> they can be run almost flat without the driver even noticing.  The 
> Michelins that I mentioned earlier are the only set of radial tires I have 
> ever owned that did not at lest loose tread shape.
>
> I drive about 20 miles each way to work daily and there is not a day that 
> I don't see cars with failed radials on the shoulder.  Of course there is 
> a lot more traffic on the road these days but it still at lest seems like 
> there are a lot more flat tires now than years ago.
>
> The real trick was selling customers on the 'feel' of radials.  The tire 
> companies were the winners here.  Construction on radials requires much 
> less hand work and as a result are actually cheaper to produce ... and 
> sell at a higher price.  Great marketing!  Almost as good as the repair 
> shops that charge extra to do disc brakes :-)  Ken 
> P--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
> Seth replied:
> Sorry - That just cannot be true. Tire shops are full of old worn-out 
> radial tires. Maybe at 80K miles. Maybe at 18K miles (My Corvette fronts!) 
> But in a numerical basis it must be 20 to 1 easily. Probably more. Just as 
> a "for- instance" - When was the last time you had a blow-out on a car? I 
> honestly cannot remember. It must be 20 years or more. And I have worn out 
> and replaced a lot of tires in that time. Like Chuck, I have raced on lots 
> af very safe non-radial tires. But a distinction should be made. Speaking 
> only of current tires, and excluding reproduction tires for Concours, 
> non-radial tires are only built for racing OR cheapest possible price. I 
> wouldn't drive on the street on them, just race!!  <grin> - Seth
>
>
>
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